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A LETTER 



TO GEORGE WASHINGTON, PRESIDENT 
OF THE UNITED STATES : 

CONTAINING 

STRICTURES 

ON HIS ADDRESS 

OF THE SEVENTEENTH OF SEPTEMBER, 
1796, 

NOTIFYING HIS RELINQUISHMENT OF 
THE PRESIDENTIAL OFFICE. 

li V ill I a '/ji Du n c . 

_«« 

BT JASPER DWIGHT, OF VERMONT. 



PRINTED AT PHILADELPHIA, FOR THE AUTHOR, 
AND SOLD BY THE BOOKSELLERS, 

Dec. 1796. 



U- c^/ At 



I 



*E=SC 



A LETTER 

TO GEORGE WASHINGTON, 

PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, &c. 



SIR 



X HE caufe of Civil Liberty ov/es 
you much, and your country ftill more ; hitherto 
you have been confidered as the man whom pofterity 
fhould hold up as an example to every people de- 
termined to be free. 

Since the days of Columbus no man has appeared 

in a more conlpicuous and dignified character 

glory collefted round you, and, for a while, like the 
fun in the centre of the univerfe, you influenced 
and attrafted the admiration of mankind. 

To what caufes muft I attribute the alteration that 
has already taken place, in the fentiments of the 
world concerning you ? 

B 



C 4 ) 

Had the French revolution commenced ten years 
later, or you retired to the fhades of Mount Vernon 
four years ago, the friends of public virtue would 
ftill proudly boaft of one great man free from the 
breath of public difpraifc, and your fondly partial 
country, forbearing to enquire whether or not you 
were chargable with private aberradons, would 
vaunt in you the poflefiion of the phenix. 

But it is to be feared that the temper of your mind 
has been miftaken by all but thofc who, uniting evil 
with ambitious difpofitions, prevailed over your 
judgment to the prejudice of your reputation. 

This is the tender opinion of men warmly attached 
to you : but it is alfo alleged that the world has haftily 
eftimated your character from imperfed; materials, 
and your addrefs of the 17th of September is pro- 
duced as an evidence of the fa6l, and as a phenome- 
non in the political world even at this eventful era. 

That produ6lion has excited the moil oppofite 
emotions : on one fide aftonilhment and affliction — 
on the other exultation and gladnefs : thofe of the 
latter temper uniformly confift of the avowed ene- 
mies of equal Liberty, the decided friends of mo- 
narchy, the open advocates of privileged and diftindt 
claffes, but what above all fhould render fuch joy 
fufpicious toyou, is, that none are more loud than 
that numerous body among us, who, after embrewing 
their patricidal hands in the blood of our parents, 
relatives, and friends, were yet admitted in the ge- 
nerous moment of our vi£lory to a participation of 
that freedom which they had laboured to deftroy, and 
upon equal terms with thofe who achieved it !--- 
When ail thefe, and thefe only rejoice and extol your 
addrefs to the il^ies, I need not fay who mourn in 
filence and fliame ! 

You are not infenfible of that eftimation in which 
you have been hitherto held by foreign nations, nor 
•f the celebrity you were likely to obtain in hiIlory> 



( 5 ) 

neither have you been indifferent to fame ; you 
know better than any other man the juil extent of 
your claims to the aftedtions of your country, i-nd 
vou cannot be infenfible how full the meafiire oi gra- 
titude has been with which you have been conftantly 
repaid. 

It is among the amiable errors of our nature, and 
already appears a too prominent feature in the cha- 
racter of our countrymen, to carry the generou3 
fenle of gratitude for great fervices, and admiration 
of fplendid adions, into the extremes of confidence 
and devotion — to proftrate reafon at the altar of blind 
and undifcriminating afi?c6lions, and to facrifice or 
forfake principles at the inlligations of zeal ; thus 
it is that men, fuffering veneration to miflead their 
judgment, learn to fan£tify frailties and vices. 

This temper fo innocent in its fourcc, all hiftory 
proves to have been mod dangerous to the happinefs 
of nations ; the influence of power in corrupting the 
human heart, is univerfally acknowleged -, how few 
of thofc who polTefs it are there, that can learn to 
doubt the wifdom of their own raeafures, or to com- 
pute for themfelvcs upon rules which they profcribe 
for the adoption of mankind j in vain do we cherifh 
in remembrance the magnaninity that called Cin- 
cinnatus from the plough, if we forget the caufe and 
manner of his departure from Rome. 

That you have loft feme fliare of your glorious 
celebrity is not to be denied, but lamented ;---and 
as different pafTions prevail various caufes will be af- 
fignedforthis extrordinary decadence :--• it is a fub- 
je6l in which your country is moft ferioufly interefted, 
fince it may ultimately influence her degeneracy or 
Freedom. 

You know that the obligations which bind the 
citizen to his country perifh at the moment he ceafts 
to be free ;— you know that as all men are equally 
interefted in that Freedom, fo perpetual watch fulncfs 

B 2 



. ( « ) 

is equally the duty of every individual, in the hour 
Vvherein he conceives there is danger v»— the afflidi- 
ons of nations are laid in remote causes, it is a mat- 
ter of opinion until it begins to operate, he who 
thinks he perceives the germ of a plague is bound to 
explore it, that men may be aware oftheir danger. 

Your addrefs in my mind is fraught with incalcu- 
lable evils to your country! - - 

It affords a moft fcrious leffon indeed to the pdople 
ot America, and to every other nation yN\\o may yet 
have to adopt a model in realizing their Liberties. ' 

Yet I mull acknowledge it painful---It is difficult 
todifcufs your fentiments while the affedions would 
fain palliate and commute the failings of age, and 
the errors of a virtuous man perhaps deceived, for 
fubftantial bleffingsand benefits fecured under better 
aufpices. 

But Truth and Liberty, which are not the crea- 
tures of a day or a generation, will not fandtion that 
weaknefs akin to vice, which would throw a veil 
over the errors even of the moft perfedl of mankind ^ 
juftice however calls upon me to declare, that by me 
and every true American, yourcourfe of public con- 
duct has always been viewed with the tendered par- 
tiality ; too young to have perfonally fhared in the 
hazards and glories of the revolution, I am not yet fo 
young as not to have partaken of its cares and anx- 
ieties, and of that dear and durable fympathy which 
is the concommitant of an intereft in great perils and 
great achievements. In the lifping leflbns of infan- 
cy and in the ardency of youth, we learned from the 
amiable praifes of our mothers to lean fondly on 
your name; and the ftranger who flies from the 
bondage and oppreflion of Europe, hourly hears in 
the prevailing themes of domeflic difcourfe and the 
leHbns we teach our children, how clofely the affec- 
tions of America cling around you. Yes! Sir j 
Truth unccnlirained but always juft muH: place you 



( 7 ) 

in an exalted rank among the great men whom hifto- 
ry celebrates '^'or the imitation oF poitcricy : But 
Truth difowns a homage to your errors. 

In paying a fair and honeil tribune of acknowleg- 
ment to your private and public virtues, extenfive in 
no common degree, you will perceive that I know 
the nature of the ground upon which I Hand, while 
-I venture from retirement, and without the fandlion 
of a name, to queflion your mealures, and to difplay 
with bold but candid freedom what I fee or think I ice 
therein-— of an alarming and pernicious tendency j 
to examine and difplay fcntiments of yours, which I 
deem inconfiftent with yourfelf, incompatible with 
the profelFed fincerity of your character, and repug- 
nant to the pureft maxims of liberality, v/ifdom, 
and morals. 

Deeply impreflcd with thefe feelings, on the firfl 
perufal of your addrcfs, I determined to au'ait the 
return of calmer emotions, till furprize and appre- 
henfion fhould abate : cool reflexion and mature de- 
liberation have fcrengthened the firft impreffionsj 
I refolved to await the public determination, expc£t- 
ing to hear opinion flowing from ignorant but honeil 
afFeftion, or haftening on the v;ings offervility or 
party adulation, from all quarters of the Union -, — 
but the period is arrived when your addrcfsjias com- 
pleted the tour of the Stores I flop to mark the 

av/ful and emphatic filencc ! — Excepting the mer- 
cenary and inane cant of bookfellers, and the folita- 
ry voice of ihofe who *^ ^venture to approach you !" from 
Shepherds-town^ a difm.al fullen filence prevails ! even 
the the public papers confpicuous for their abjcd and 
humiliating praife, or on the other fide for freedom 
and iicenteoufncfs, have alike maintained the fame 
furprizing and fufpicious forbearance ! 

Certainly there muft have been feme potent caufe 
to produce from fuch difcordant affimilations one uni- 
form and continued filcncc — has it not forced a 



• 



( 3 ) 



%h from from your bofom, and told your unwilling 

apprehenfions there is Jomething wrong I 

Would to God you had obeyed the internal moni- 
tor that prompted your too wavering fenfe to fpeak 
that faithful but ineffeftual txyM\i,— ''Here pr'hap I 
ought to flop r* : the fincereeffufions of tendernefs, 
untmged by party colouring and irritation, would 
be treafured up for ever and transferred without guile 
to our children, whofe morning orifons fhould be, 
" unceafing vows to heaven to continue the choiceft 
tokens of beneficence," which you wiihed us '' in 
the free conftitution the work of your hands — that 
its adminiftration in every department may be 
ftamped with wifdom and virtue— -that in fine the 
happinefs of the people in thofe dates, under the 
' aufpices of Liberty may be complete by fo careful 
' aprefervationandfoprudenta ufe of this blefling, 
' as will acquire to them the glory of recoinmending 
' // to every natiomvhich is yet aftranger to it,'' 

Had you flopped there, partiality would have 
ftrove to bury, at lealt in fome degree the remem- 
brance of certain truths out of refpeft to you j---but 
the fubfequent pages of your addrefs demand the 
examination which is the purpofe of this letter : I at 
firft propofcd to convey my remarks to you in a 
private manner ; but confidering the foundation 
of the evil effeds which I apprehend from your 
addrefs, as already laid, i have judged it more proper 
to lay them before the people who are alone effenti- 
ally concerned. 

You are fo ftrongly fixed in the affeftions of the 
greater part of my fellow citizens, and not without 
great right, except in that dangerous extreme which 
leads to imbibing the effedls of your prejudices as 
the refults of wifdom, that I can exped to find but 
a minority willing to examine difpafTionately the 

* Prefident's Addrefs Ormrod's Edition P. 6. 



( 9 ) 

obfervatlons which I offer : neverthelefs, it would ill 
become me on fuch an occaficn co (briiik from the 
{cnk of duty — fince my opinions, if erroneous, 
are open to refutation, ana can do you no injury ; buc 
in exprtfiing them 1 ihall fpcak with Mie franknefs 
of a Freeman, I ihall not couch my fentimcuts unvkr 
a treacherous garb of words iufceptiblt oi a double 
interpretation —a conduit that would ill become 
any man in a jufl: caufc, but particularly in his 9wn 
caufe or that of the public. 

Your addrefs, exclufive of that excellent intro- 
duflion compofing the firft fix pages, where you 
ought to have flopped, principally confuls of three 
branches, generally conncdled, but requiring for 
perfpicuity's fike a diflinft examination. 

1 What relates to the permanency and indivifibi- 

liry of the Union. 

2 On Party, Civil Liberty, and Religion. 

3 The belt policy with regard to foreign nations. 

On the firft of thefe heads you teftify to the ar- 
dency of the national afFccftion for Freedom, and 
juftly confider the unity of the government as a 
main pillar of our independence — of our internal 
tranquillity and external fecurity-r— of our peace and 
proiperity — and of that Liberty we fo highly prize ; 
but from that point to the conclufion, there prevails 
a fpirit' of ambiguity and recrimination, blended with 
maxims good and evil, that arc at variance with each 
other and that magnanimity and openncfs which 
would befpeak confcious virtue and become the true 
friend of Freedom ; — which fhould never be for- 
faken by the moral man and the hero of a free nation 
when dictating le/fcns profejfedly for the advantage of his 
fellow citizens i and calculated to make aflrong and lajiing 
imprejficn'' — ** to moderate the fury of -p arty rage*' — ** to 
v/arn againft the mifchief of foreign intrigues" — and 
"' to guard againft the impofiures q^ pretended Patriot- 
ifm!" 



. ( lo ) 

It is fit in this place to call to remembrance, that 
during the early part of your public life, candor has 
been the avowed rule of your public and private con- 
dud, and it is from that engaging quality above all 
others you have derived the unlimitted confidence of 
your country and the refped of other nations ; not 
fo much from being confpicuous in you, but becaufc 
duplicity and referve, felf-fufiiciency and (tcrccyy 
have been heretofore the cloaks which covered the 
wily mifchiefs of politicians in all the governments 
of the old world. 

Within the lail: four years, at a period which is af- 
certainable, but needing now no particular difcuflion 
fince it will live in hiRory, you departed from that 
precious rule, and the procedure and language of old 
politicians and politics have pervaded all your mea- 
fures fince. I fhall barely notice one tranfadion, 
fince that alone is a fufficient evidence of the condu6b 
to which I allude, and affords an example that 
Ihould be a conftant warning to Freemen how they 
rcpofe extenfive power in the hands of any indivi- 
dual, however dignified by his fervices or patriotifm, 
for any confiderable length of time : I mean your 
refufal to grant to the jull wifhes of the people's repre- 
fentatives, to the joint wiflies of hcth hcujes^ a perufal 
of papers concerning the people's own affairs, and 
for whom you ihould not have forgot you were but 
a refponfible agent. I am aware, that under the fatal 
forms of ft ate fecrecy, privilege of office ^ox pov/ers af- 
fumed to belong to the prefidential charader, which 
in fa6l are neither more nor lefs than the word en- 
graftments from Machiavelian policy^ and the adual 
cffence of monarchical prerogative -, this condu6l is 
affefted to bejuftified, but by fuch frail difguiles and 
foul advifers you have been betrayed to withhold 
the correfpondence on the Britilh Treaty, — to treat 
your country as an enemy, whom you wiflied to 
overcome by ftratagem, and like a Ikiiful general 



( -I ) 

in the career of fuccefs, didated conditions v/hich 
degraded die fubjugared by leaving dicm die Ibcw of , 
deliberation without the means to deliberate, — 
v/hen the conditions of furrender were already irre- 
vocable ! But frcm that fatal moment, when you 
lillened to the fedu61:ions of your cJeadlicft enemies, 
in oppoiition to the voice of Freedom which hates 
difguife, the brightncfs of your countenance is faid 
to have faded, the glory that fnone round you dif- 
foived in mift, and like our firil parents, you have 
borne about you the vilible evidences of ir.:ernal 
regret, and the perturbations of virtue Itruggiing 
between pride and confcious error ; frcm that unhap- 
py hour the cnei."'.ies of Liberty and your Country 
called you tbeir ow7i, and tiie name of Washington 
funk from the elevated rank of the Solons and 
Lycurguses to the infigniiicance of a /^;wj//,2« Doge 
or a Dutch Stadth older ! 

On that baleful day, the boaRed candor, the dig- 
nified opennefs, the com.municative dilintcreftedncfs 
of patriotifm., became more than equivocal, and the 
clouds of fufpicion hovered round you ; American 
politics became difcoloured with the jaundiced hie 
ot defpotifm and cabinet cunning, and the world 
was brought once more to look upon the conftant 
declaration of your moft vociferous panegyrifts, that 
'^ pure repubiicanifm is af^icrfy" as a fatal truth, and 
the American States but as one more of thofe ma- 
chines calculated for raanagem.ent of a capricious or 
weak individual ; the popular reprefentation from 
that period loft is refpedabiiity, and was degraded 
into the character of an old French Parliament, kept 
only for the mere ceremony of receiving implicitly 
and regiftering without the toleration of enquiry the 
edi^s which thejcvereign tmlls. 

But a more fatal effeft refults from this meafurc, 
in the precedent held out to your luccefi(:»rs, whofe 
ambition may not be circumfcribcd by age or the 

C 



^( la ) 

want of heirs, nor by the yet vigorous hatred which 
fubfiils upon experience againft the evils of dcfpo- 
tifm : earneftly as you warn your country againft the 
dangers to be apprehended from defpotifm through 
faftion, you in this inftance left a breach, at which 
ambition may enter with trifold force and facility, 
where entrenched behind the authority of your exam- 
ple, and aided by pliant inftruments in public fituati- 
ons (which it is feared our country already affords) 
they may machinate treaties and maintain correfpon- 
dences, which in their confequences may produce 
all the calamity in which weak or wicked ambitious 
men can involve a notion. 

Great labor is vifible in the con/lruftion of your 
language! — I have not been an inattentive or a light 
obferver of the concerns of my country, yet I find it 
not eafy to fix upon the defcription of men to whom 
you allude in that fentence — *" it is eafy to forefee 
" that from different quarters pains will be taken, and 
" artifices employed to weaken in our minds the 
" convifcion, that union is the bond of our fafety;" 
and again "frowning upon the firft dawn of every 
"attempt to alienate any portion of our country from 
"therefl." 

There have been inftances in which the fpeculati- 
ons of philofophy have glanced at the future divifi- 
on of America into a variety of ftates, M.Lwguet and 
the Abbe Raynal alTumed to predi6l fuch an event ere 
yet we became an independent nation. 

Great Britain has in her fyftem of colonization and 
policy, fpeculated upon thofe fpeculations, and tranf- 
fufed the fpirit into her colonial arrangments in 
Canada ; Dorchefter and Simcoe a6ted upon it j and 
the Britifli minifters and fenate have argued upon the 
defirablencfs and prafticability of dividing the Uni- 
ted States into diftinft governments and interefts, to 

* P. 6. 



( 13 ) 

be regulated by climate, fituation, the natural lines 
of population^ produ6tions, manners, and religions^ 
and ail the genera of theoretic circumilance j but in 
thefe confifts the difficulty which prevents my mind 
from fixing upon the perfons or party from whofe ef- 
forts you apprehend thole dangers to the Union \ 
for when I compare the conduct you difplayed on the 
fubjefts of Britifli politics and connexions, wich 
theie lively warnings, I cannot bring myfelf to believe 
that you could implicate that party in the dangers 
you deprecate ; and what ftill diftrads my judgment 
in endeavouring to difcover to whom you allude, 
are the ftrange and ftriking circumftances, that the ' 
perfons among ourfelves who are loudeft in declara- 
tions of attachment to our country, are yet the con- 
Hant and faithful inmates and advocates of Britifb 
men and meafures, are thofe who attempted openly 
and argumentively to recommend, and as it were 
prove, the neceflity and utility of dividing the United 
States into two republics, to confiftofthe New-En- 
gland ftates North and Eaftward, and the other of 
all the Southern ftates ; but it is not this effort of 
theirs, nor their inceffant clamour in favour of all 
things Britifli and againft all things French, that dif- 
trafts and leaves my opinion unfettled, but that per- 
lons very clofely in your confidence, openly profefs 
and defend thefe attachments ; that this party com- 
pofe your moft ardent eulogifts ; that they are like- 
wife the conftant and no lefs ardent eulogifts of privi- 
leged orders, the advocates of an eftablilhed Church, 
and the eulogifts of a BritiHi form of government — 
Britifh maxims in morals as well as politics are with 
them the ftandard of human perfection, of which 
they do not hefitate to declare you to be a living ex- 
ample formed upon a fuperior model. 

I cannot therefore confiftently conclude that this 
party with whom you ftand fo high, and who have 
partaken it muft be confefTcd very largely of your pri- 

C2 



( u ) 

vatc regp.rds for three years pa'l, could have been the 
objecls of your v/arnings, however pointedly and 
circumllantialiy the xiefcription may be applied to 
them. 

There remains indeed the fhadow of a furmife yet 
to notice ; pcrfons in the wtltern countiies it has 
been faid, expreffed in the momeni; when they deemed 
themfclves aggrieved, the idea of fcparaticn, to ef- 
cape opprtfiioi-j — a moil m.emorable occafion ! fliould 
they be indeed the ferious objefts upon v/hich you 
afFe(5t alarm, the veil of ambiguity is no longer impe- 
netrable, and it remains only to be afl-ied how their 
circumflances and population jufiify the fear ? Who 
are their foreign neighbors ? What advantage could 
they derive in efit6ling fuch a purpofe ? And what 
motive could be fufiiciently ftrong to urge them to 
fuch a meafure ? 

Thefe queftions require no difFufive reafonings no 
deep refcarch,---that their population is inadequate 
to fupport independence — their refources incompe- 
tent to their wants in fuch a fituation, the plain under- 
ftanding of the plaineft man could determine ; but 
you fay "^ be deaf to fuch as would fever you from 
'^ your brethern and connect you with diiens," — 
thefe aliens muft be their neighbours, of whom 
we have reafon to be jealous ? The Britifh are their 
only neighbours, beiide the Indians and Spaniards, 
from both of whom^ freemen have little to apprehend ; 
the Britiili then remain ; and that the defcription ap- 
plies to them alone, is fairly inferable from the expe- 
rience v/e have had on numberlefs occafions,but par- 
ticularly in their conduit while they kept poffeffion 
of the weflern pofts ; near which, neither towns nor 
habitations were fjffered to be ere6ted, the fertile 
earth was interdidled from culture, and even the 
erefticn of a folitary hut was rigidly obilrufted and 
forbidden j fettlers were no:: only feduced by gifts 
pflands and various other temptations, but forced by 



( -5 ) 

open violence to migrate from the American fide of 
the boundary and fettle on that of the BritiPn. 

But is there no latent motive in this warning? has 
the fyftem of excife, that hot-bed of patronage, in- 
fluence, corruption, and opprcflion, yet met any juf- 
tiftcation other than the weliern cxpedicion ? — or has 
that expedition met any juftification, but in the fortu- 
nate but unexpefted confcquence of its overturning 
the fanguine expeftations of thofe whofe am.bition 
built profpeds mod fruitful to their fell purpofes 
upon the eiiabliiliment of an army of mercenaries, 
an eftablifhment which you in the genuine language 
of truth declare to be " always inaufpicious to Li- 
*' berty, but particularly to Republican Liberty ?" 

The fecond head is irkfome to difcufs, becauic not 
to do it without referve would be to dcfert the moft 
facred principles of truth andjufcice, which fhould 
never give way to the warmicilperfonal attachments. 
The foundation of Civil Liberty and the obligations 
of allegiance to governments founded on the reprc- 
fentative bafis, require no new elucidation at this pe- 
riod of time, notwithftanding the efforts of your vio- 
lent adulators, to difparage the caufc of Liberty by 
attempting under the cloak of literary di^atorfljlp to 
perfuade unlettered men, that our conititution is not a 
democracy, fortunately for mankind the topic is be- 
come a vulgar one, within the compafs of every man 
that can read his bible and underftand common ienfe; 
your folicitude to promulge new lights, however, 
would be commendable, confidering that the occafion 
was an interefting one, and likely to carry with it an 
efieft commenfurate with the magnitude of your 
influence on the public mind at the moment, had vou 
adhered to the earned enforcement of principles 
upon their own merits \ or even pointed out tJie con- 
fequences of indifference or negleft, of a flaviili or 
fielent difregard for their ufe or abufe ; if a rigid ad- 
herence to fuch conduft were on any occafion pru- 



. ( i6 ) 

dent ar.d necefTary, on this more than any occafion 
was it called for ; and in proportion to your depar- 
ture from that candid and magnanimous line of con- 
dud, fo muft your true friends have caufe to regret, 
the friends of Liberty to deplore ; and feeling that 
you have done fo to a moft alarming extent, the 
facred fentiment of duty obliges me to point out 
wherein you have violated your own principles, by 
making your addrefs the vehicle of perfonal refent- 
mcnt, the indirect defence of weak and unjullinabie 
meafiires ; where you have urged dogmas repugnant 
to free government, fubverfive of the right of private 
judgment, and calculated to injure and impede the 
progrefs of morals and the happinefs of mankind. 

Serious and afPiicling are thefe truths, verified by 
numerous paiTages in your addrefs, upon which I 
Ihall remark as I proceed. 

" The bafe of our political fyftems is" you fay, 
" the right of the people to make and alter their 
*' conftitucions of government j" it is not becaufe 
this important principle difplays the abfurdity or 
treachery of thofe profelTed friends of yours who 
never ceafe railing at democracy, that I quote it -, 
but becaufe the declaration of principles is too often 
the cloak for their violation ; in every country from 
the decline of Roman Freedom to that of Poland, 
Svveden, and England, — from Auguftus to George 
III. the profeffion of love has been accompanied by 
the facrifice of Liberty ! and there can be little doubt 
that fome of thofe tyrants blinded by felfifli paffions 
imaQ-ined that their moft fatal meafures were founded 

O 

in wifdom and confiftent with freedom : but neither 
the principles of free governments nor the allegiance 
due to them is the lefs facred for their abufe, the dan- 
ger proceeds from obfcuring the bounds, or leaving 
them expofed to the inroads of treachery. 

In this point of view the foregoing truth ftanding 
alone is unaflailabic, but conneded with the fol- 



( 17 ) 

lowing unqualified illuftration, is fraught v/ith all that 
mifchicf to which bad men can convert the maxims 
of great authority; you fay " But the conftitution 
'^ which at any time exijis, till exchanged by an cx- 
" plicit and authentic a6lof the whole people, is fa- 
" credly obligatory upon all." You indeed juftly 
add, *' the very idea of the power and the right of 
" the people to eflablifli government, preliipppofes 
" the duty of every individual to obey the cftablifl-i- 
" ed government." From the general truth of thefe 
principles no friend of the federal conftitution can 
diflent; but if applied to a particular cafe, and cer- 
tain doftrines daily broached threaten to realize it, 
would render them unfafe and deftruftive, unlefs 
connefted with other principles, marking the limits 
of official power, and fhewing where aggreflion on 
the part of the conftituted authorities would render 
difobedience the firft of patriotic duties ; I will fup- 
pofe that the adminiftration becomes infenfibly com- 
pofed of men devoted to monarchical government, 
(" and though the period may never arrive it fcould 
not yet be kept out of fight !") that by artful con~ 
ftruftions, bold afllimptions, or open and powerful 
hoftility, they either alter the form by fpecious in- 
novations, or a dire6i: perverfion of the principles 
of the conftitution ; what then would be the duty of 
the patriot citizen ? Kow would the loofe dodrine 
you lay down apply — of obedience to any ccnfiitutkn 
that might hereafter exifi ! Strange but afrediing tnitb, 
that power long poTefled perverts the judgment, 
elfe we Ihould not have received fo many admoni- 
tions againft the people,vand fo little on the dangers 
CO be apprehended from that fource whence ty/anny 
has crept in all ages ! 

But it is evident that in this part of your acidrefs 
you were governed by feehngs very feparate from 
thofe of dipafl"ionate and benevolent patriotifm ; this 
regard for the conftitution, altho I doubt not of your 



• ( i8 ) 

atitachment to it, appears awkward when engaged 
in Pcimulatingone fide and dcprefllng the other, and 
ftill condemning party; the cauic of truth (hould 
never be dcbafed into the inftrument of relentment, 
and your judgment mud have been under the domi- 
nion of a moll domineering prejudice when youpro- 
nounced an anathema againir all combination and af- 
fociation, becaufe a few popular focieties of your 
countrymen dared to ajfert thdr own opmiom in oppo- 
lition to yours — becaufe they difl^ered from you on a 
queftion which every day's experience fmce, and 
which every fober confidcration now, and every 
probability in the future courfe of human affairs, tend 
to difplay your error and their propriety. 

In this mixture of jealcufy refentment and mifta- 
ken pride, you forgot that it is to afTociation, to fe- 
rret meetings, to the fccrccy of great andjuft opini- 
ons, the United States owe this day the bleiTings of 
Independence ; you forgot that whatever may have 
been the pernicious confcquences of fome alTbciacions 
in all parts of the world, that ftill the fum of good 
has been greater than the evil ; you forgot that it is 
the indifference of a people towards their governors, 
and the meafures they purfue, enables tyranny always 
to obtain an eftablifhment on the ruins of freedom, 
you overlooked that part of the natural charafter of 
mankind, which requires the indiiptn'ible aflivity 
of his mind to the prefervation of his freedom ; but 
ilrangely, in the prefent progreffion of fcience and 
opinion, v/hile you acknowledge the inherent difpo- 
fition you file in the fltce of God and nature and con- 
demn both the author and the work. You never 
confidered, that in commercial cities the deliterious 
poifon of avarice has always been found deftruftive 
of Liberty, that connefted with this fatal poifon there 
is the great and v/eighty pov/er of the Britifh mer- 
cantile intereft, circulating like foul blood through 
all parts of the ftates, infecting our habits, didating 



( •?• ) 

to our manners, infinuating itfelf into our Senate, 
and pervading every branch of our public offices; 
in denouncing the few but mafculinc cfFor;s of a lictle 
club, fcarcely of fufficient conft-quence at any other 
time to excite ordinary notice, you have atLemj>tcd 
to overwhelm every motive and difpofition to free 
and enlightened aflbciation, and labored wiiii a nioffc 
affefting perplexity to polifh the fting of your ver- 
geance fo as ftrike a very humble objcdt home but 
ibrc. 

It is the boaft ofEngliflimen, Sir, that you enter- 
tain a decided partiality for their nation ; until the 
perpetration of the Britifh Treaty, no man would 
believe you capable of fuch truly Chriftian forglve- 
nefs; they obfcrve, with the peculiar fneer of mali- 
cious exultation, that the fentiments as well as the 
phrafeology of your official produflions, have fud- 
denly fwelled from their former fimplicity into fervile 
imitations of tlje pompous verbiage of the Britilli 
adminiftration > this was indeed difputed, but in tlie 
EXISTING CIRCUMSTANCES of hatred of Clubsy ic is 
impoffible not to difcern the courfe of your ftudics -, 
and although you have not had equal reafan to hate, 
nor as juft motives as theBritiffi miniller to fear the 
petty vengeance of petty clubs, yet your principles 
go as far, and your fympathy of fentiment falls no- 
thing fhort of Mr. Pitt, on that fubjedt. 

" All obftrud^ions to the execution of the laws, 
" ALL combinations and ajfociations under whatever 
^^ flaufible chara6ier, with the real design to di- 
" recft, control, counteract, or overawe the regular 
" deliberation and a6iion of the conftituted autho- 
" rities, aredeftru6iive to this fundamental principle" 
that is of the allegiance of the p'rople to the c)nrii- 
tution at any tim^e eftablilhed; But who, fir, are to 
be the judges of this real design? Is the conftruc- 
tion of men's intentions to be committed to agents 
of the powers that be, and defigns prefumed without 

D 



•( *p ) 

regard to the forms of crimination prefcribed by 
the confiitution ? Thefe dc6trines bear a moft ob- 
ilinate refemblance of the meaufures and language 
of the Britifli miniftry a year ago ! You continue, 
" they ferve to organize faction, to give it an ar- 
" tificia! force, to put in the place of the delegated 
** will of the nation, the will of a party, of afmall 
" but enterprizing minority ; and according to 
" the alternate triumphs of different parties, to 
*' make the public adminiftration the mirror of 
*^ illconcerted and incongruous proje6ts of fa6lion, 
'* rather than the confident and wholefome plans, 
*' digefted by common counfels, and modified by 
«' mutual interefts." 

This picture profefledly theoretical and profpecl- 
tive, prefents the real and melancholy retrofpe6l 
of thofe fatal combinations under which that afto- 
nifliing meafure, the Britifli Treaty, was laboured 
into exigence : to no other event can it be com- 
-^pr.red, to no other tranfa6tion in our hiflory does 
it lb pointedly apply ! — But, (obferving, en pajfani, 
tiiat the '* delegated will of the nation," was con- 
temned and deemed either unfit, incapable, or un- 
worthy of previous counfel or fubfequent delibera- 
tion on thefubject of the treaty !) in what degree 
does the force of this vindictive declaration attach 
as a pretext for refiraining or fettering the opinions 
of the citizens of the United States ? or for curbing 
the natural difpofition to aflTociation, and the free 
declaration of private judgment, on meafures in 
which they are every one individually as much as 
you concerned ? Are men to remain filent until 
called upon by their governmental agents? Who 
are they that the confiitution appoints to reftrain 
private deliberation, and mark the line beyond 
which freedom becomes fedition ? Where is the 
law that forbids the exercife of opinion, and re- 
firains the confcience from its honefty ? Or are v/e 



( 21 ) 

henceforward to confiJer, in defiance of all expe- 
rience, — difnitGreftednels, wildom, and virtue, as 
inherent in the poirellbrs of national power and 
truli ? Are the peaceable republican citizens of free 
America, the men who achieved the bleliings we 
enjoy, to relinquilh focialcommunion, and remain 
quiefcent fpe^ators of the open activity of a party 
the moft odious and infolent that ever difgraced a 
free fociety — to fee their cities thronged with Bri- 
tilh emiflaries — the deadly enemies of their inde- 
pendence — the opprelfors of their trade, the pirates 
and executioners of their fellow-citizens — courted, 
cherifhed, andlUll infulting us in our very ftreets, 
mocking our tamenefs, and revileing us for our 
imbecility? — Mull Americans, I i\iy, become fo 
bafe as to bend the neck in fiience to the creatures 
of their will, while thofe deadly enemies openly 
triumph over our perfons, trade, and politics, and 
daringly declare our retrogreffion to thofe evils we 
fhook ofr when we became free ? Shall this organ- 
ized fa6tion, with the fecret gold of Britain at their 
command, fubfift, a^id the plain. American whofe 
only hope and glory is Freedom in perpetuity, mull 
be filent ! Good God ! and are fuch the doctrines 
offered by George Wafliington to his country ! 

You are loft. Sir, in the treacherous mazes of 
paffion ; you have given Vv'ay to thejealoufy of ir- 
ritated feelings, before refiedion could foften the 
violence of your choler ; what avails it that you 
admit that fuch combinations and alTociations may 
now and then anfwer popular ends, when you add 
*' they are likely in the courfe of time and things 
" to become potentengines, by which unprincipled 
" and ambitious men will be enabled to fubvert 
*' the power of the people and ufurp the govern- 
'' ment :" myftery and equivocation are unworthy 
of you, as the refentments and precepts which they 
are employed upon ; for until men are filled with 
D 2 



( 2? ) 

that perfection which you fay is not in their nature, 
the period or occafion vvhen alTociation may be lalu- 
tary niult be left to the opinion of every free citi- 
zen ; would you leave aflbriatioa to the d;fcretion 
of men in power ? then is your great nauie and our 
freedcni diigraced ! There may be a cr:fis in our 
government, as we T e in others, when corruption 
on one lide, and niinilterial perfidy on the other, 
will render it the duty of every virtuous citizen to 
airociate — ;ind who then iliall mark the line which 
leperates grievance from jufticc ! In a iijcial vjevv, 
we have too^little of community in the induftrious 
branches of (bciety, we borrow too largely (jf the 
booriih inhofpitabiiity produced by enoimous taxa- 
tion in England, and of the fclfdnnef^ produced by 
•mifery aiid t)ranny in Germany ; among the idle 
aiid opuiei'^t, and in theoHioial branches of fociety we 
aifume all the empty vanity, and more of the info- 
lence than becomes us of the former nation ; in our 
legal abides and flate policy it is the fame ; 1 have 
already noticed that paitsot' their politics have been 
adopted by yourfelf -particularly the fecrecy con- 
(iantly and tenacioufly aflerted to be an effential 
part ofadminifiiation, and which indir ftly aderts 
the government to polFcfs the only wifdom of the 
nation, that the people are not fit to know their own 
affairs, or judge how they are admindtercd, or tirat 
the nation is a dependant creature on the govern- 
ment. 

Your profeffions it is true are in many refpedis 
the fame as thok> of the mofi ardent lover of equal 
Liberty ; your admonition againft changes, and the 
diverfitude of hypothefis, and injun<5t^oiiS to adhrre 
by the preft^nt government until experience has 
proved or difapproved its wifdom, are equally ratio- 
nal ; but how farexperience has already ddcovered 
• blemilhes in it, the principle of fecrecy and flindity 
in public tranfacftions, thecondu6l and quantum of 



( 23 ) 

duty performed by our Senate and Vice-Prefidcnt, 
the adequacy o[~ the Senate now, and at a future 
time, when the popuhition Ihali have been greatly 
encrcafod ; and in relation to ihc comparative po- 
pulation of each ftate feverally ; the abides in the 
remote branches of the Poft-oflioe, ail under our 
prefent conltitution, I pretend not 2;o\v to deter- 
mine i-<he power already vefted in the office of Pre- 
lident, particularly what has been con ftrued con- 
cerning treaties, and confidering the ufe to which 
you a])plied them, and the con!tru(5lion which has 
been alYumed from analogy with monarchial go- 
vernments, in my mind demand public regard ; my 
fellow citizens at large no doubt will coniidcr thcin 
in proper time and place. 

^^ut without dwelling upon thefe, I cannot but 
rem:irk one f -atiire of your morality, and which in 
its full extent governs your politics, it is founded 
on a maxim which -perhaps Uiore than any other 
has tended to perpetuate the mderies ol fociety and 
degrade and eriflave mankind ; the bafis of tyranny 
temporal and fpiritual, is the alleged innate depra- 
vity of man ; if there is that innate depravity^ 
(which, however the long unhappy conftruftion 
of fociety and the prejudices of ages may appear to 
fan6tify it, a clofe obfcrvation of mau, and the 
fentinients of the greatefi: mcralids difprove,) then 
indeed may your polition, that the fpintof party is 
unfortunate and fraught with more than the dan- 
gers you defcribe, be maintained ; but it ilill re- 
mains to be proved that God created man naturally 
wicked, or that the inherent predominant dipofiti- 
on to evil is really implanted in \i?>, fince if the pre- 
dominant pafHons of man fliould be fouiid to be no 
other than the love of our kind, of participation, 
and the delire oMharing the bleffings which he pof- 
lidres in fociety ; contradiuinguifl-ied fion^ corrupt 
defpotifm which maintains exclufive power in one 



( 24 ) 

or a few at the expence of the reft, then the fpirit 
of party muft be the fame as the fpirit of refiftance 
to oppredion, the fpirit of philanthropy, the fpirit 
of benevolence, of humanity ; then indeed the 
name and odium of party does not belong fo appro- 
priately to any clafs of men as thofe who poUefs 
and vvilh toengrofsall the power and advantages 
of fociety, to the exclufion of the governed : — dial- 
low and inert muft be thole faculties which can dif- 
eern in the fpirit of party that has been difplayed 
in the French Revolution, nothing but the evil, 
rejecting in the eftimate all the oppreffion overcome 
and the good that has been obtained and is to fol- 
low ; or that would rather place to the opprobrium 
of party all the deftru6iion, perfecution, and crimes 
fent forth, and let loofe among that already afni<5t- 
ed andopprelfed people ; which fee in the clubs of 
France all the diftortions of guilt, but clofe up the 
judgment upon the diabolical fpirit of the party 
of defpots — the party of the Britifh King and Ca- 
binet — the party that partitioned Poland, and had 
lotted out France, and who would have eife6led 
its difmemberment, had not the immortal party of 
Freedom, rofe above their oppreffion, and if:ungby 
the groans of ages, united its omnipotent force, and 
releafed that nation from their rapacious talons, and 
in that great effort, refcued America from the cer- 
tainty of another ftruggle for her Liberty, — and 
confidering how formidable in point of number the 
avowed monarchiftsand Britiftipartifans are, from the 
poflibility of being fubjugated and once more redu- 
ced to the low condition of a province to that infa- 
tiable maw of political rapacity the kingdom of 
Britain. 

The alternate domination of fa<5lion is, you fay, 
** itfelf a frightful defpotifm," and you add, *'that 
'"'■ the diforders of faction gradually incline-men 
" to Jeek Prosperity and repofe in the ahjolute ■poisjer 
** of an individual I IV 



( 25 ) 

Lamentable muft be the condition of human in- 
tellect in the United States, if fuch is the mode of 
argument neceirarily employed to deter men from 
refleaion.-Good God! SECURITY and Repose 
and in the abjolute power cf an individual ! From 
what hiftory is this example drawn, or from what 
age ? have we funk back into the iron barbarity of 
antient times, or are the citizens of America in 
danger of being as much befotted as the Engiilh, 
when they recalled the moft abandoned and profli- 
gate of men, Charles II. to perpetuate that mon- 
ftrous breed of opprtffion, an unprincipled heredit- 
ary nobility, an intolerant timeferving hierarchy, 
pailive obedience, non-refiftance, licentious guards, 
wars, funding fyftems, excife, (landing armies, and 
fenatorial corruptions---have we trod back the fteps 
of ages into feudal times, and loll all fenfe of the 
rights of individual freedom and^private property, 
are we plunging again to the condition of Lords, 
ValTals, and Villains ? — Is the human chara<5fer 
capable of approximating the perfedion oi^ Liberty, 
and ftupidly relinquifliing its blellings; while the 
reft of mankind are roufing from their torpor, ex- 
panding their arms and ftriding to that point of 
improvement where freedom will be the acknow- 
leged right and polTeilion of all ! In what indivi- 
dual has an opprefled people ever found more than 

a momentary refuge ? Is it to a Frederic or a 

George HI. a people not mad would fly for pro- 
tection or commifTeration ? Ye citizens of the once 
free Dantzic — ye gallant but betrayed Poles — ye 
hardy Scots, degraded by an iron tmicn — generous 
but contaminated Irifh — ye innocent Hindoos — ye 
haplefs Africans — deluded French Emigrants — and 
ye fupremely aflli6tt d objects of royal individual 
commifTeration LA FAYETTE and your faithful 
wife and offspring, bear vvitnefs to the Jhfety and 
Jecurity that nations and men find in great and am- 
bitious individuals! 



•( 2^ ) 

But what is the powerful incentive to warnings 

To fignificant, why *■' without Jooking forward to 

' fuch an extremity, ought it not yet be kept out 

* of fight !" — and tor what end ? *' to dilcourage 

* and retrain party ','' — wheie and what are the 
mifchiefs thut call for thefe refiri61:ions r ". It ferves 

always to diftra(^t public counfels, and enfeeble 
public adnu'niftration ; to agitate ill-founded 
jc-a]()ufiesand falfe alarms ; kindles animofity and 
foments riot and infurrtdtion ; opens the door 
to foreign influence and corruption, which find 
a facililattd arcefs to the government itfelf thro 
the channel of party pafiioiis, and fubjecSfs the 
policy of one couiitry to the J^olicy and will of 
another." 

in this fnort paragraph you have difcharged the 
loathings of a firk mind; you have colle61:ed the 
aggravating rcc<'Ik6tions of' wounded pride, and 
warmed to tne inveteracy of hatred, difcharged 
the whole burthen of your blazing fpiiit at theob- 
je6l of your prrfonal dilhke, under the form of 
advice to your beloved country ! 

OGod! that you had flopped to weigh the re- 
fults of prudence in cool rtfle(!?tion — that you had 
fliunned the ungracious track otVindircdl afperfion 
— that you had conquerf^d the rt membrance of Mr. 
Randolph's Vindxat.on — or balanced the ftcrets 
which he li;;ci manfully kept undifiloftd, againft 
that part ofyour condudl which you compelled him 
to difcover ! 

But let me examine the {u-inciplcs of this illfated 
charge againft party, independerit of their perfonal 
guile. 

Does party «/w<?jj diftra(5t public counfels- --en- 
feeble the aun!inif!raticnb---agitate ill-founded jca- 
loufiesand faii'e alarms? 

1 his charge, however it might have applied to 
the particular faft of the Uruggle between thofe 



( 27 ) 

who wifhed refpedlively to fee the French and En- 
glifti interefts favored by unequivocal demonftrati- 
ons of our regard and attachment ; will not certain- 
ly bear out the declaration that fuch will always be 
its effects ; neither is it true thatiilfounded jealou- 
lies and alarms are the invariable confequences of 
popular aflbciations, although it is too frequently 
the efFe6l of combinations among external enemies 
and a governmental party ; in the ever memora- 
ble and let me add deplorable occafion above men- 
tioned, what was the condu6t of the members of 
your own adminiflration, and what was that of the 
popular party ? 

The latter, influenced in no ordinary degree by 
your repeatedly avowed afFeftion and regard for 
the French nation, by your attachment to her 
generals and remembrance of the fervices which 
they had rendered us in fecurlng our Independence 
at a critical and more early period and with a Icls 
expenceof our own blood ; influenced flill more by 
the virtuous caufe for which Ihe was then fighting, 
and in a degree ft ill more ftrong and energetic by 
the fenfe of the wrongs which the combined pow- 
ers were inflidtiug on that nation, and not a little 
by the fentiment that France was ftruggling againfl: 
the very power that had fought to enflave us, and 
whofe bloody progrefs is ftiil pi6tured in the minds 
of our citizens, in the ruins that ftill call to painful 
remembrance the deep inflictions ot Britifn feroci- 
ty ; the popular aflbciations were decidedly in favor 
of that opprefled people, the fympathy of fuffering 
virtue and magnanimity called for their warmeft 
afFe(5tions- -our caufe was the fame---we muft: be 
worfe than monfters of brutality not to pray for 
their fuccefs, not to glory in their triumphs ! — 
how did the popular focieties a6t on this occafion ? 
they openly and like honeft and free men, declared 

E 



( »8 ) 

« 

their opinions in the face of their country and all 
the world--- perfidy itlelt cannot charge them with 
niore ? 

It is true indeed, the} have been charged with 
ftirring up the paffions of the citizens to an equally 
expiicir I'xprellion of their fentinients-'-vvhat ! was 
the love of Liberty the hatred of Tyranny, confi- 
ned to the bolbrns of a few popular ibcieties only, 
among all the citizens of the United States ; and 
uere thecitizensat large fo devoid of i)hilanthropy 
and of every fympathetic itntiment, as not to be 
able to judge m fo plain a cafe? Away with fuch 
deteftabie delufion, fuch mockery of virtue, fuch 
pcrverlion of truth and tree opinion. 

But what was the conduct of the only party, 
which in truth exijled, and drew fcrth that fermentation 
and alarm that recdiy dijtraoled the national coimjels and 
dijgraced its chara^er ? 

It is not necefliiry to iniid on the precifion of 
dates where fa6fs are notorious ; a fliort time prior 
to the agitation of the Bntifli Treaty, it (hould not 
be forgotten, that the Btitifli Cabinet had illued a 
fecrtt order to their cru Icrs to feize all American 
vedels which thev llTOuld meet bound for France, 
that iome hundreds of them vvere a6fualiy feized 
before the exigence of fuch an order was known to 
our government, that thefam.e period produced the 
denunciation againft the repuHicfin form of govern- 
ment ; it fliould likewife be well remembered that, 
at that period the French were reduced to a predi- 
cament wherein an accumuK.tion of internal cala- 
mities and an unexampled combination of external 
fi rce appeared, in the oj^inion of weak men, ready 
to overwhelm that people and fii;k them in the feale 
of nations for ever ; the mode of her partition had 
already h^cxx fcrmally ag'^-eed iifcn and guaranteed, and 
England eto-nally b.ibbling on tlu balance of pow- 
er and her faitb in treaties — furrendered thefe max- 



■( 29 ) 

ims of date and her faith pli^;hted to Pol.inJ, as a 
folemn teftimoiiial in the (dv^ of tlio world, of the 
fincerity of her hatred againll any government of 
the republican ibrm ! 

At thih hour of fatal influence, and reproachful 
to our chara6ter as a free nation, when dcllru61ion 
feemed to let fall her hand on France — when Po- 
land was already f;icrificed — nnd Britain blo.ited 
with the rank infolence of riches, the fj-uit of her 
Eaftern fpoils, as Ihe is wont to be at the corn- 
mencement of all her wars, and blindly confident 
of the fpeedy annihilation of the only nation ihat 
curbed her hiit of luiiverfil domin<it:on, that ene- 
my already ftaggcri ng at hrr feet ; at this period in 
contempt of the experience of an hundred wars 
againfi: the (ever.il powers of Europe, the Britilh 
government formed the defign of profiting by the 
naked and dcfencelefs ftate of America, from the 
involvement of France, and rendering our ftrcngth 
which fhe had loR by tyranny, fubverfive to her am- 
bition by the double means of threats and craft — 
a remembrance of the condu6t of Britifh fliips 
on our coaft, and Britilh agents in our ports and 
ftreets, and the clamourous threats of war cr con- 
ceffion which reverberated in our ears on every fide, 
will be fufficient to mark the meafures and cha- 
ra6ler of the party that prevailed at that time j — 
thofe who think the fubje6l worth a fcrutiny, will 
be able to determine what Oiare Britilli emdlaries 
took in it, how faithful the Tories and Refugees 
proved to their old principles and old friends, and 
whether or not //^i?^^(^r/)' was "a fmall but enter- 
** prizing minority," or the great body of friends 
to order y civilized govermne?it, and religion I 

The feizurc of our (hipping, tlic lide of our car- 
goes, the detention of ourfcamen, the ruin of our 
trade, after fome ihne attradlcd the attention of 
our executive — (anti here it is but equitable to aik 
E 2 



*( 3^' ) 

Whnt would have been the conduct of Britain on 
experiencing fuch aggreffions ?) — a private remon- 
ftiance was made, and the anfwer returned was to 
tliis eftedt, you may have a Treaty ' And for this 
gracious condelcenfiqn the embargo was taken off! 

How far the vain cry of war influenced you, lir, 
is not ncceflary to enquire, lince the effect com- 
pletely anfwered all the calculations of the Britifli 
party ; lince that party boafted then of polTeffing 
the ear ot the greater number of thofe who enjoyed 
your confidence, but as has fubfequently appeared^ 
who wholly engrolfcd your counfels and led your 
judgment in liiken bonfiage. 

The Britifii Treaty has been already difculTed, 
but a great part of its improvidence and difregard 
of our national trade and honor remains yet unex- 
pofed ; it requires a feparate expofure ; at no re- 
mote period it is plain to fee, that public exigencies 
will drag it forth under public odium and exe- 
cration. 

That treaty was the price ofyour fears and of the 
"Weflern polis-and the facrifice of our relations 
with France was the return for the repeal of the 
Britifli order of council, but without the effe6t of 
releafing us from the obloquy of Britifli violence and 
barbarity at fea. 

I fliall not break open the feal of cabinet fecrecy, 
to unravel the myftery of the proclamation of the 
22nd. April i793---time will commit that tale to 
hiftory, when you fliall be no more and my name 
forgotl;en---then hiftory willdevelope tne intrigues 
which dictated md directed the declaration and de- 
reliction of the mcilern law of'tiaiions. 

Such were the eifefts of party, but of what party ? 
They fully illuftrate your doftrine, but they de- 
mand aloud of the people to reflect much, to com- 
municate with each other often, and forbear fium- 
bering away in faithlefs confidence, thofe liberties 



( 31 ) 

which can only be endangered by weak or wicked 
men employed in the adminiftration of their public 
affairs. 

1 have but a few remarks farther to make on par- 
ty, and (hall then proceed to examine thole })arts of 
your addrefs which relate to foreign policy. 

Your examples ol^ party influence are uniformly 
drawn from occafions wherein your perfonal opini- 
ons, your pride and paflions, have been involved ; 
in no particular more ftrikingly is this difcoverable 
than in your advice concerning the powers of the 
conftitution. 

** The fpirit of encroachment" you fay "tends 
'* to confolidate the powers of all departments in 
*' one, and thus create, whatever the form of go* 
*' vernment, a real defpotifm." Thisfentence is a 
palpable allufion to the proceedings in the houfe of 
Reprefentatives on the fubjedt of the treaty, and 
thus again. Sir, under the garb of advice to the 
people you difguife an attack on the Reprelentatives 
and an attempt to defend your own fecrecy and ob- 
flinacy ; when 1 confider t!us conduct and the in- 
ftances to which I have already alluded, and as you 
dire(5l me, form an "eftimate of that love o^ power 
" and pronenfes to abufe it, predominant in the 
'' human heart ;" and I take into that eftimate. 
your refufal of the juft and proper demand of the 
H6ufes for the correfpondence on the treaty, then 
Sir, I cannot but confefs the truth of your poftula- 
tum---and I blefs God! — I blefs God, Sir, not on 
your account nor my own, but on that of my coun- 
try and my children's freedom, who in leaving 
you without the blelling of heirs, and making you 
with fuch a difpofition, the powerful inftrument 
in the hands of providence, for fecuring our inde- 
pendence, has releafed us from the danger which 
we might elfe apprehend, thro that love you have 
gained in the honefl; and confiding hearts of our 



( 32 ) 

countrymen, from reverting again to the odious 
and deteitable condition of rubje6ts---and carrying 
into effect thofe maxims which apjjear to be the re- 
fak of a clofe knowledge of your own dilpofition. 
I forbear remarking on other points of blen- 
ded truth and ambiguity ; but I cannot lufiTer the 
fpirit of party rancour under the mafk of religion 
to overturn and annihilate the gratitude which this 
nation owes to that great man THOMAS PAINE, 
it is not for me to defend his writings on the 
fubjcct of revelation ; but however much 1 may 
diiailow the arguments he has produced againlt it, 
I am content that thofe whole province it is to ftu- 
dy and fearch the fcriptures, b.ave been alive to their 
faith, anfv\ered his call, and fatibfied the confcien- 
ces of ail who doubted ; but then if I do not ap- 
prove of his belief, muil I neceliarily condemn him? 
aias ! what is belief if it is not free! — ^hat mull be- 
come of the Jtw, the lavage, the Mahometan, the 
Idolater, upon all ot whom the lun fliines equally, 
whom the fame heat warms and the fame cold chills, 
muft I allow no virtue, no right of opinion on mat- 
ters which divide and liave divided ail mankind in 
all periods and tmies, upon which even we ourfelves 
are fplit into countlefs IKls, and have in the couife 
ofevL'ry one of our own lives, who have dared to 
ftepbeyond the threfliold of education and to reflect 
on (;ur being, been perhaps equally or more fcepti- 
cal t!ian he, but you f>y " voknnes would not trace 
*' all the connections of religion with private and 
public h !ppinefs"---granted, and thisa'fois my 
opinion, but then does he fpeak lincerely or as a 
hypvicnte ? or are we . to clofe up the doors of uif- 
culilon agai;;ft him. who delires every man only to 
think for himfelf, and to dilregard his opinioi-^s 
where be gives no reafons for them ; to reject 
them, if in our own opinions they are not right ; 
who loves God, and has proved his charity towards 



( Z3 ) 

all men ;---but there is I iVar, and the fear is now 
beeoinihg gerieral, a delign to ere6t a nat.onal 
church among us, ir fuch lliould be your view in 
att^rking the well earned fame of Tlionias Paine, 
God foi'giveyou! I truit to no fpiritUuJ inquilifor; 
nor exjje^t *« the kingdom of Chrift uptui earth;" 
how tar religion ihouid be national, would require a 
voluminous and iep.race d.fcullion, con(titutio;ially 
it cannot be ours; on the fubjtt'R: ot 6^/^j which 
are lb (hockingly multiplied e\ery where, there 
art' many of ihe belt moralifis divided in ojjinion, 
and whatever the bounded w'l^dmn o^ Judge Rujh, 
Mr. ^wifty and yourfeli" may fuggeft, we lie in the 
condii6t of that great body of virtuous men, the 
Quakers, how unneceilkry are oatns in the orderly 
regulation of Ibciety ; while in the Culiom-houle 
pt rjuries, and i\io['Q 0*1 men in cffiieand men profcfling 
Chriltianity of all delcriptionb, nioit powerful ar- 
guments againlt their eiiirai^y. I have laid more 
on this dehcate topic than 1 propofed, bur I can- 
not with jufiice to the caufe of Liberty which Paine 
has well ferved, and the caufe of truth which 1 a- 
dore above every partial conlideration, forbear to 
remark that an attack on tliat great alRrtor of Free- 
dom, comes from you with particular ungraciouf- 
nefs, and I cannot but o'penly apply to you the 
fame charge which you unneceilarily and impru- 
dently lay againft him. 

'' In vain would that man claim the tribute of 
'' patriotiim, who fliould labour to fnbvert the 
" great pillars of human happincfs, (religion and 
" morality) the firmeft props of the duties cf men 
'* and citizens:" without atten^pting a comment 
on the diftin(5tion which you have made in acruling 
him of attempting to overturn kij, I think it 
enough to remark, that you made it ; but there 
is another particular in which the defence of religi- 
on, butefpecially the Cbrijiian religion, appears very 



. ( 34 ) 

awkward in your hands: — Would to God ! you had 
retired to a private ftation four years ago, while 
your public condu6t threw a veil of fanftity round 
you, which you have yourfelt rafhly broken down, 
you fame would have been fafe, your country with- 
out reproach, and I lliould not have the mortifiying 
talk of pointing out the blind temerity with which 
you come forward to defend the religion of Chriji, 
who exift in the violation of its nio/i f acred obligations , 
of the deareft ties of humanity, and in defiance of the 
Jcverign calls of morality and liberty — by dealing in 
HUMAN SLAVES!— aggravated too by the fad 
refie(5lions, that neither neceffity, felfprefervation, 
the want of fortune, nor the delire of transferring 
riches to your defendants, could be urged even as 
plaulible or worldly motives in extenuation, but 
on the contrary, v/hen your property, ample for 
the gratitication of the mod extravagant delires — 
would call loudly upon you to rcleafe your fpecies 
from their unchriftian bondage and ignorance, were 
it but to prefent an example of difintereftednefs — 
of that virtue — that morality — of the lincerity of 
your love of liberty — of benevolence — of charity 
— of the love of God and the moft benign religion, 
to you country, which you declare to be the main 
fprings of every government, *' the great pillars 
" of human happinefs, and the firmcft props of 
*' the duties of men and citizens." 

Having already exceeded the bounds which I 
propofed, for this part of my letter, and having yet 
to offer fomeobfervations on the remaining fubje(5l 
o^ foreign relations y and a few concluding remarks, 
I fhall omit what I purpofed fayin]^ concerning 
taxation and finance, upon which there is ample 
room for pointed animadverfion. 

In what I have faid concerning party, I noticed 

the origin of the Treaty with Britain, and the de- 

-fencelefs fituation in which v/e then ftood, from 



( 27 ) 

who wifhed refpcdivcly to fee Ihe French and Eii- 
giiih interells iavored by unequivocal demonftrati- 
ons ofour regard and attachment ; will not certain • 
ly bear out the declaration that lurh will always be 
its eife<5ts ; neither is it true that ilHbunded jealou- 
lics and alarms are the invariable conlequences of 
popular aflbciations, although it is too iVequontly 
the cHe^t of combinations among external enemies 
and a governmental party ; in the ever memora- 
ble and let me add deplorable occafion above men- 
tioned, what was the condudl of tl\e members of 
your own adminiftrationj and what was that of the 
pojjular party ? 

The latter, influenced in no ordinary degree by 
your repeatedly avowed affeclion and regard for 
the P'rench nation, by your attachment to her 
generals and remembrance of the fervices which 
they had rendered us in fecuring our Independence 
at a critical and more early period and with a Icfs 
cxpenceofour own blood ; influenced iliil more by 
the virtuous caufe for which flie was then fighting, 
and in a degree ftill more ftrong and energetic by 
the fenfe of the wrongs which the combined pow- 
ers vvere inflidiug on that nation, and not a little 
by the fentiment that France was flruggling againfl: 
the very power that had fought to enllave us, and 
whofc^ bloody progrefs is ftill pictured in the minds 
of our citizens, in the ruins that fiill call to painful 
remembrance the deep inflictions ot Britifli feroci- 
ty ; the popular aflbciations were decidedly in favor 
of that oppreiTed people, thefympathy of fufFering 
virtue and magnanimity called for their warmeft 
affe(5tions- -our cauie was the fam_e---we muft be 
worfe than monfters of brutality not to pray for 
their fuccefs, not to glory in their tiiumphs ! — 
how did the popular focieties a61: on t his occafion ? 
they openly and like honed and free men, declared 

E 



( ^8 ) 

their opinions in the face of their country and all 
the world -- perfidy itfeif cannot charge them with 
Hi ore ? 

It is true indeed, they have been charged with 
ftirring up the paffions of the citizens to an equally 
explicit txprrnion ot their fentLments---what ! was 
the love of L;b rty the hatred of Tyranny, confi- 
ned to the bofonis of a few popular locieties only, 
among all the citizens of the United States ; and 
were the citizens at large fo devoid of philanthi'opy 
and of every fympathetic ftntinient, as not to be 
able to judge in ib plain a cafe? Away with fuch 
deteftrbie deluiion, inch mockery of virtue, fuch 
perveiiion of truth and free opinion. 

But what was the conduct ol the only party ^ 
which in truth cxifted^ and drew forth that fermentation 
and alarm that really diflra^led the national counjels and 
dij graced its character ? 

It is not neceirary to infift on the precifion of 
dates where fa6ts are notorious ; a fliort time prior 
to the agitation of the Britifli Treaty, it fhouid not 
be forgotten, that the Britifli Cabinet had ifliied a 
lecret order to their cru:iers to leize all American 
vcdels which they fhouid meet bound for France, 
that fomc hundreds of them were a6f Ucfily feizcd 
before the exiftenceof fuch an order was known to 
our government, that the fame period produced the 
denunciation againft the repdblican form of govern- 
ment ; it fliould likewife be well remembered that, 
at that period the French were reduced to a predi- 
canierit wherein an accumulation of internal cala- 
m.it!es and an unexampled combination of external 
f. rce appeared, in the opinion of weak men, ready 
toovervvhelm that people and fink them in the fcai.e 
of nations for ever ; the tnode of her partition had 
already h^i. r\ fcnnahy agreed' upon and guaranteed, and 
England eternally babbling on the balance of pow- 
erand her faith in treaties — furrendered thcfe max- 



( 29 ) 

ims of flate and her faith plighted to Poland, as a 
folemii teftiinonial in the face of the world, of the 
fincerity of her hatred againft any government of 
the repubhcan form I 

At this hour of fatal influence, and reproachful 
to our character as a free nation, when deftruftion 
fccmed to let fail her hand on France — when Po- 
land was already fiicriiiced — and Britain bloa!:<"d 
with the rank infolence of riches, the fruit of iicr 
Eaftern fpoils, as The is wont to be at the corn- 
menceinent of all her wars, and blindly confident 
of the fpeedy annihilation of the only n.stion that 
curbed her hifi: of univerfal domination, that ene- 
my already ftaggering at her feet ; at this period in 
contempt of the experience of an hundred wars 
againft the feveral powers of Europe, tiie Britilh 
government formed the defign of proiiting by the 
naked and defencelefs ftate of America, from the 
involvement of France, and rendering our ftrength 
which (he had loft by tyranny, fubverfiye to her am- 
bition by the double means of threats and craft — 
a remembrance of the conduft of Britifh (hips 
on our coaft, and Britilh agents in our ports and 
ftreets, and the clamourous threats of w^^r or con- 
cejfion which reverberated in our cars on every fide, 
will be fuiBcient to mark the meafures and cha- 
ra6ler of the party that prevailed at that time , — 
thofe who thmk !he fubje6t worth a fcrutiny, will 
be able to determine what (hare Britilh emidaries 
took m it, how faithful the Tories and Refugees 
proved to their old principles and old friends, and 
whether or not that party NA^as '* a fmall but enter- 
*■* prizing minority," or the great body of friends 
to order .^ civilized gcvernment, and religion ! 

The feiztire of our fliipping, the laie of our car- 
goes, the detention of ourfeamen, the ruin of our 
trade, after fome time attracted the attention ;»f 
our executive — (and liere it is but eqiatable to aik 

E 2 



•( 3° ) 

What would have been the condu^l; of Britain on 
experiencing iuchaggreffions ?) — a private remon- 
Ibance was made, and the anfwer returned was to 
this eiie(5t, you may have a Treaty ' ^nd for this 
gracious condefcenlion the embargo was tal^en off! 

How far the vain cry of wTir influenced you, fir, 
is not ntceflury to enquire, lince the efic6t com- 
pletely anfvvered all the calculations of the Britifli 
party ; fince that party boafted then of polfening 
tlie ear ot the greater number of thofe who enjoyed 
yonr cor.lidence, but as has fubfequently appeared, 
who wholly engroiTcd your counleis and led your 
ji;dgn)ent in fiiken bondage. 

The Britidi Treaty has been already difcufled, 
but a great part of its improvidence and difregard 
of our national trade and honor remains yet unex- 
pofed ; it requires a feparate expofure ; at no re- 
mote period it is plain to fee, that public exigencies 
will drag it forth under public odium and exe- 
cration. 

That treaty vvas the price of your fears and of the 
Weliern poliB---and the facrifice of our relations 
with France was the return for the repeal of the 
Britifli order of council, but without the effect of 
reieafing us from the obloquy of Britiih violence and 
barbarity at fea. 

I lliall not break open the feal of cabinet kcYecy, 
to unravel the myfiery of the proclamation of the 
22rjd. April i 793---time will commit that tale to 
hiftory, when you fhali be no more and my name 
forgotten---then hiflory will develope the intrigues 
which di6tated ind dn-e6ted the declaration and de- 
rcli61ion of ih^mcdern law ofnatmis. 

Such were the efFeds cf party, but of what party ? 
They fully iilufirate your doc^^rine, but they de- 
mand aloud of the people to rtflcdi much, to com- 
municate with each other often, and forbear llum- 
bering away in faithlefs confidence, tliofe liberties 



( 31 ) 

which can only be endangered by weak or wicked 
men employed in the adminiftration of their public 
alTairs. 

1 have but a few remarks farther to make on par- 
ty, and ihall then proceed to examine thole parto of 
your addrefs which relate to foreign policy. 

Your examples of party influence are uniformly 
drawn irom occalions wherein your perfbnal opini- 
ons, your pride and pailions, have been involved ; 
in no particular more ftrikingly is this difcoverabie 
than in your advice concerning the powers of the 
conltitution. 

" Thefpiritof encroachment" you fiy "tends 
" to confolidate the powers of all departments in 
** one, and thus create, whatever the form of go- 
** vernment, a real delpotifm." Thisfentence is a 
palpable allcHion to the proceedings in the houleof 
Reprefentatives on the fubjed of the treaty, and 
thus again. Sir, undcn the garb of advice to the 
people you difguife an attack onthe Reprefentatives 
and an attempt to defend your own fecrecy and ob- 
ilinacy ; when I coniider this condi;6f and the in- 
ftances to which I have already alluded, and as you 
direft me, form an '•cUimate of that love of power 
" and pronenfes to abule it, predominant in the 
" human heart ;" and I take into that eftimate 
your refufal of the juft and proper demand of the 
Houfes for the correipondence on the treaty, then 
Sir, I cannot but confcfs the truth of your poftula- 
tum --and I blefs God! — I blefi God, Sir, not. on 
your account nor my own, but on that of my coun- 
try and my children's freedom, who m leaving 
you without the blelling of heirs, and making you 
with fuch a difj)ofition, the powerful inflrument 
in the hands of providence, for fecuring our inde- 
pendence, has rt leafed iis from the danger which' 
we might elfe apprehend, thro th<it love you have 
gained in the honeft and confiding hearts of our 



.( 32 ) 

countrymen, from reverting again to the odious 
and deieftable condition of l\ibjeft3---and carrying 
intoeii'ecl" tho(e maxims which appear to be there- 
fiilt of a clofe knowledge of you'r own difj-olition. 
I lorbcar remarking on other points o, blen- 
ded truth and ambiguity ; but I cannot fufter tiie 
fpirit of party rancour under the niafk of religion 
to overturn and annihilate the gnitf ur^e which this 
nation owes to tliat great man THOMAS PAINE, 
it is not for me to defend his writings on the 
fuDje^l of revelation ; but however much 1 may 
dilaiiow the arguments he has produced againlt it, 
1 am content that thole whole province it is to ftu- 
dy and fearch the fcriptures, have been alive to their 
faith, anfwered his cali, and fati.sfied the confcien- 
ces of all who doubted ; but then if 1 do not ap- 
prove of his belief, muft 1 necefTarily condemn him? 
alas I v.hat is belief if it is not free!^ — what mull: be- 
come of the Jew, the favage, the Mahometan, the 
Ijolator, upon all of whom the fun fliines equally, 
whom the fame heat warms and the fame cold chills, 
rnuit I allow no virtue, no right of opinion on mat- 
ters which divide and have divided all mankind in 
ali periods and times, upon which even we ourfelves 
are fplit into countlefs fe(51^s, and have in the courfe 
of every one of our own lives, who have dared to 
ltepbe\ond the threfliold of education and to reflect 
on our being, been perhaps equally or more fcepti- 
cal than he; but you fay '' volumes would not trace 
*' all the connexions of religion with private and 
public hippineis" — granted, and thisalfois my 
opinion, but then does he fpeak iincerely or as a 
hypocrite ? or are we to clofe up the doors of dif- 
culfion again ft him, who deli res every man only to 
think for himfelf, and to dilregard his opinions 
where he gives no reafons for them ; to reject 
thejn, if in our own opinions they are not right ; 
vviio loves God, and has proved his charity toward* 



( 33 ) 

all men ;---but there is I fear, and the fear is now 
becoming general, a defign to ere6t a national 
church among iis, ir fuch fliould be your view m 
attacking the well earned fame of Thomas Paine, 
God forgive you! I truft to no fpirituai mquilitor; 
nor ex|:je6t '* the king(iom of Chrift upon earth;" 
how tar religion Ihouid be national, would require a 
voiuminous and feparate difculiion, conftitutionally 
it cannot be ours ; on the fubjc6t oi'oathi wli.ch 
are lb Ihockingly multiplied every where, there 
are many of the belt moralifts divided in opinion, 
and whatever the bounded wWliom oi^ Judge Ruj?j, 
Mr. Swift, and yourfeif .may fugged, we fee in the 
condud of that great body of virtuous men, the 
Quakers, how unnecelFary are oaths in the orderly 
regulation of i()ciety ; while in theXuRom-houle 
perjuries, and thofe oi rnenin office and men profcfling 
Chriftianity of all defcriptions, moll powerful ar- 
guments againft their efficady- 1 have faid more 
on this delicate topic than I propoied, but I can- 
not with jufticc to the caufe of Liberty which Paine 
has well ferved, and the caufe of truth which I a- 
dorc above every partial conlideration, forbear to 
remark that an attack on that great aii'^rtor of Free- 
dom, comes fi'om you with particular ungraciouf- 
nefs, and I cannot but openly apply to you the 
Time charge which you unneceilariiy and impru- 
dently lay againft him. 

" In vain would that man claim the tiibute of 
" patriotifm, who fhould labour to fubvcrt the 
'* great pillars of hunKUi happincfs, (religion and 
** morality) the firnjen: props of theduties of men 
" and citizens:" without attempting a con. ment 
on the d;ftin6tion which you f.ave maiic in accufing 
him of attempting to overturn hih, I think it 
enough to remark, that you made it ; but there 
is an(jther particular in which the defence of religi- 
on, bLitcfpecially the Chrijiian reli^on, appears very 



( 34 ) 

t 
awkward in your hands: — Would to God ! you had' 
retired to a private {ration four years ago, while 
your public conduct threw a veil of faii6tity round 
you, which you have yourfeif rafhiy biokendown, 
you fame would have been fafe, your country with- 
out reproach, and I IhouM not have the mortifiying 
talk of pointing out the blind temerity with which 
you come forward to defend the religion of Chrifiy 
who exift in the violation of its mcfi Jacred obligaticns , 
of the dcareft ties of humanity, and m defiance of the 
fever ign calls of morality and liberty — hy dealing in 
HUMAN SLAVES!— aggravated too by the fad 
refiediions, that neither nccellity, leifprefervation, 
the want of fortune, nor the defire of tiansferiing 
riches to yourdefcendants, could be uiged even as 
plaufible or worldly motives in extenuation, but 
on the contrary, v^hen your property, ample for 
the gratilication of the nioll extravagant delires — 
would call loudly upon you to rcieafe your fpecies 
from their unchriltian bondage and ignorance, were 
it but to prefent an example of difintereftednefi} — 
of that virtue — that morality — of the fincerity of 
your love of liberty — of benevolence — of charity 
— of the love of God and the molt benign religion, 
to you country, which you declare to be the main 
fprings of every government, " the great pillars 
** of human happinefs, and the firmeft props of 
*' the duties of men and citizens." 

Having already exceeded the bounds which I 
propofed, for this part of my letter, and having yet 
to offer fomeobfervations on the remaining fubject 
o'i foreign relations, and a few concluding remarks, 
I fliall omit what I purpofed fliying concerning 
taxation and finance, upon which there is ample 
room for pointed animadverfion. 

In what I have faid concerning party, I noticed 
the origin of the Treaty with Britain, and thede- 
fencelefs fituation in which we then ftood, from 



( 3S ) 

the didreflecl condition of France ; it has been af- 
fertcd, 1 know not with what dcgiee of truth, that 
Britain gave the United States the alternative ofa 
treaty or a war; upon a furmife it is not necef- 
fary to arguej further than the weight that is cx- 
pedtcd to be derived (roni tlie wiidoni whichis pre- 
llmicd to have fccured peace in fuch a dilemma; but 
if peace was fccured upon that occaiion upon fuch 
conditions, we certainly Ihould not have bjen left 
ignorant ofa \\i6i io neceflkry for our future guid- 
ance, and Ibr the regulation of the national judg- 
ment concerning the conduct of our public agents 
and allies. Whatever may have Simulated you to 
the execution of fuch a treaty, "It is evident the ad- 
vice you have here offered to your fellow citizens, 
with regard to foreign connexions, conveys a taci-t 
condemnation of thatmeafure, while it diiplays an 
attempt to defend your condu6l, though deviating 
from the policy you recommend ; your aim clearly 
is to bring over the nation to an unfcttlcd and 
trimming policy, in order to cover your own error: 
but in this, as in former cafes, your mode of de- 
fence applies againft you, and while you call up 
every effort of which you are cap.ible to obliterate 
the gratitude and attachment due to France and the 
caufe fhe is engaged in, you only perfuade us with 
tenfold effect how confcious you are of the faithlefs 
facrifices which have been niiide to Britain. 

After recommending the total forgetfulnefs of 
thofe juft and crying antipathies which the bloody 
fcenes of Efopus, Paoli, and the North-River, 
muft ever awake in the breafrs of feeling men, but 
which to attempt fmothering while George HI. is 
King of England, Jlexander pp'edderburne t\\e keeper 
of j^/j- confcicnce, Cornivallis hx^privy ccimjellor^ one 
Arnold \\h friend, and Sir Charles Grey his tavourite, 
is fuch a folly as no experience could hope for, nor 
any thing but defparation fuggeft, to the prefent 

F 



(• 3^ ) 

and the rifing generation ; could you hope for the 
exclufion of the moft honorable and endeared of 
the moral virtues from our hearts, or that we could 
take to our bofonis thofe who butchered our fathers 
r.nd brothers in cold blood, who dilh.onored our 
daughters and fifiers, who maiked their paths thro 
cur country by pillage,. mallacre, fire, and defola- 
tion, and in the fame moment banifh from our 
nr.nds and afiVftions thofe who, in the crifis of our 
fatCj by a powerful interpoiition, refcued us from 
the contjnuity of fuch horrors, fecured to us our 
freedom, and to uhcm many of us now owe the 
exiftence we enjoy ? — He muft be a fturdy moralift 
whofe nature can bend iojuch regards forjuftice ! 

•* The nation which indulges towards another 
*' an habitual hatred, or an hiibitual fondnefs, -is 
" in fome degree a Have." This, Sir, is a new 
mode of reaioning hatred of llavery into love of 
opprellbrs ! Suppofe this new political fophifm 
were generalized, and by reducing it to the ftan- 
dard of common fcnfe, rendered intelligible; — 
in this way then it will ftand thus — Virtue and 
Vice diftinguilli nations in various degrees, a ha- 
bitual fondefs of the vices of a nation renders you 
in fome degree a llave to thofe vices, but if a nation 
is confpicuous for virtues, a habitual love for thofe 
virtues is not to be called flavery,. becaufe virtue 
and flaverv cannot exift together. I venture to fay. 
Sir, this applicatian of your dogma is liri6>ly in 
point, and if the moral regard of nations fhould not 
go counter to thofe of individuals, that there can 
exiii no difficulty when we afk, from what nation 
are we in moft danger of infe6fion by their vices ? 
It will be granted, that it is net to the animal we 
become attached, but the qualities w hich diftinguifli 
nations as much as perfons from each other, the 
wifdom, fcience, talents, miagnanimity, generofity, 
difintereftednefs, and facred devotion to Liberty, — 
the queftion of love or hatred of nations then be- 



( 37 ) 

comes a qucftion of morals, and our firft enquiry 
will be what is the form and character of their 
Government ? — When any oneacculcs the BritiOi 
Government, and convicts it of one Virtue, it will 
be then time enough to urge a comparifon. 

But tho I pafs over fome expreffions calculated 
to warp the judgment and infinuate away the opi- 
nions of men, there is one truth which Freemen 
iliould never fuffer to be abfent from their minds — 
THE CAUSE OF FREEDOM IS THE CAUSE 
OF MANKIND ! Applying it to the finglc caule 
of France, and fuppofuig her fubjugared and dilKr6t- 
cd — " blotted from the map of Europe j" — che re- 
publican form of government would then remain 
to undergo the fame operation, the petty oligarchies 
of Italy and the then feeble remains of Batavian rc- 
publicanifm would fcarcely demand the force of a 
lingle member of the defpotic confederation to an- 
nihilate them, and could we then expe6l to remain 
ejfempted from the univerfal profcription ? Let any 
man turn a moment's earned re flediion on what mult 
be our condition if France had been extinc!;uifhed ! 
Could we expeft a magnanimous forbearance from 
England ? From whom then could we expe6l fuc- 
cour ? Surely not from the partitioners of Poland ! 
But it will be faid, we have already proved oiirfelves 
invincible to the power of Britain : Alas ! precarious 
would be that Liberty v/hich were to be placed on 
the rifle of fuch a conteft ! When we fought for our 
Freedom all the world was with us ; France fought 
for us ; we had her navy to proteft us, her valorous 
generals to diitcl us ; we had not the experience 
and confcquent terrors of a favage and airaffinating 
war, and of the treachery that put the poignard in 
the hand of our next door neighbors, nor the know- 
lege which we now poiTefs, that nearly one half of our 
fellow- citizens arc decided partizans of the Britilh 
and their form of government, a confiderable por- 
tion of the friends of Liberty become fo totally ab- 
F 2 



• C 3g ) 

forbed in worldly purfuitsand confident of fecurity, 
that danger at their doors can fcarcely roufe theoi — 
In fuch a fituacion, what could the band of firm re- 
piiblica.'is do but die nobly, and leave their poflerity 
at the merciiels mercy of their conquerors ! That 
we have not tafied of this bitter cup is not the effedb 
of your meafurcs, every ftep difplayed the weaknefs 
that would invite domination. But thanks to the 
better genius of France, that in baffling defpotifm 
fecured to us peace ancFreedom fo long as we fhall 
be worthy of it! Looking to the future fituationof 
Europe, how are V7e to appreciate your maxims ? If 
France fliould conclude a peace at the clofe of the 
prefent campaign, what would be our fituation with 
regard to that nation ? In what manner could we juf- 
rify our uniform conduft toward her, our public de- 
clarations of admiration and attachment, our fecret 
defertion and treachery ? Are we to propofe accom- 
modation by a renew^al or a complete dercli(5lion of 
the difregarded treaty — are we to throw ourfelves 
into the arms of Britain — are we (as they exclaim 
who fupported the Britifh Treaty to avoid war !) to 
go to war Vvith France ? No other path lies open but 
that of concclTion, and that tafk you leave to your 
fuccefibr in ofSce ! 

But let us look beyond thefe nnpleafant limits, 
and confidering what France is — v\'hat fnc promifes 
to be, afk wherein confifts the prudence or wifdom 
of your maxims? After ten years of peace, under a 
republican government, with the finell and beftfitu- 
ated country in the univerfe, the mod numerous and 
enlightened body of philofophers that any nation 
ever pofTe fie d, the moft numerous, intelligent, aftive, 
difintcrefled, and brave people the world has ever 
known ; with thefe advantages, feeing what Colbert 
effefted under circumftanccs fo much inferior, what 
will fuch a country have to covet from us or to fear 
from all the powers of the earth and fea ! 



( 39 ) 

But it has been urged by trimming politicians, that 
as England now holds the dominion of the lea, we 
owe it to ourfelves to cultivate peace with her, fince 
her trade employs our lliipping, and her manuiac- 
tures engrofs three-fifths of our internal traffic — • 
by this mode of argument it is, that the recommen- 
dation of adherence to the faith of Treaties, and a 
fteady aflertion of national independence and neutra- 
lity, have been made odious by avarice and faction, 
and bellowed forth only as the treacherous whoop 
prelufive of war. 

Such were the proceedings and fuch the mode of 
argument, that jullified and efFcftuaced the Britifli 
alliance -, I will not flop to remark minutely how 
poweriully all the arguments againft the attachment 
to France might be employed againfi: that with Bri- 
tain, it will be enough to flatc the general circum- 
ftances of each ; the government of Britain is a fub- 
ject defervingthe decided abhorrence of every m.oral 
man j that of France is reprefentative like our ovvji ; 
the perfidious policy of the former will conftantly 
^ndanger us, if not ultimately involve us with one or 
other of the European powers whom fne hates or 
fears i in a commercial view {lie will be neceffarily 
dependant on us, for our ftaples and the confumption 
of her fabrics, which we can procure cheaper in other 
countries ; France can have nothing to fear from 
our enmity nor to court from our warmeft love, her 
, population and the ge.jius of her people will enable 
her to underfcl all the manufacturers of Europe, and 
trade will follow cheapnels ; England on the contrary 
deriving all her confcquence from abroad, and daily 
finking under the burden of her ambitious, oppreiTive, 
and corr^.ipt government at home, cannot hope for 
furi;r-r profperity or refpeftability in Europe, only in 
a Revolutioii and Republican government (an event 
that would render your meafures perfectly ridiculous) 
or by wily machinations drawing in An^erica, as 



( 40 ) 

an old Bawd drags her daughter to proftitution, as 
the only Iburce of fupporc under the weight of turpi- 
tude and age. Our detached and diftant fituation 
invited and enabled us to purfue the courfe of im- 
partial juilice without fear of war from Great Britain 
or interference in behalf of France ; that faith which 
is pledged by the nice obligations of gratitude, honor, 
and Liberty fliould have direoied us to this unerrin"^ 
point. 

" Why" I repeat after you ''^forego the advanta- 
" ges of fo particular a fituation ? Why by inter- 
" weaving our deftiny (again with England who 
" would enfiave us) entangle our peace and profpe- 
•' rity in the toils of (Britifb) ambition, rivaifhip, 
^' intereft, humour, or caprice? " 

In the trembling anxiety of your apprehenfions 
you betray a folicitude for the exculpation of your 
paft condu6t;, thatfpeaks more than the moil minute 
examination of your fentiments ; having mentioned 
the Britifli treaty with applaufe, you recoiled: in the 
fequel that you have deprecated foreign alliances : 
you therefore find it neceiTary to create the diilin6li- 
on between commercial and political alliances, as 
if the former were not to all intents and purpofes of 
the latter defcription, when the privileges of a fa- 
vored nation are facrificedon one fide, and infult and 
opprelTion fubmitted to on the other ; but fearful 
that even this fhould be infufficient you further warn 
us againft ^^ permanent alliances^ fo far I mean as we 
** are now at liberty to do it, for let me not be under- 
*' as capable of patronizing infidelity to exifting en- 
** gagements." This extrordinary advice is fully ex- 
emplified in your departure from the fpirit and prin- 
ciple of .the treaty with France, which was declared 
to be permanent, and exhibits this very infidelity you 
reprobate in a moft ftriking and lamentable light. 

In forming the treaty with Britain, one of two 
modes of condudl was purfued, equally regardlefs of 
fubfilling obHgatlons; there was either a rclinquilli- 



( 41 ) 

irjcnt or facrifice of particular conditions fecured by 
treaty to France, or a negleft or dilregard of tl.e 
juftice which was due to that conciadt -, or in other 
words wc have derived the nioft fi^nal advantages 
from the afliltance of France particularly in the cap- 
ture of Cornwallis, that obligation has never been 
repaid, — our treaty with France from this caufe and 
from the attachment of tl e philofophical charade rs 
of the French nation throug^h whcfe powerful influ- 
ence we acquired the alliance, and by whofe advice 
in conjunftion with our own philofophical agents, 

the treaty was formed, was it not confidtrtd as a 

great ftep towards the amelioration of the laws of 
nations, and which we have adopted in every neary 
we have entered into fmce excepting that with Bri- 
tain ? national confiftency, therefore, as well as the 
impreflive principles of generofity and juftice fiiould 
have bound us on that particular occafion to have 
regarded principles primarily eftablifhed by our own 
example. 

There was ftill another circumftance of particular 
delicacy in negoriating the Britifh treaty, which a 
Republic jealous of htr reputation, as the moft vir- 
ruous woman, fhould not have neglefted ; — that the 
negociation was commenced aud concluded durino- 
the exigence of a war between the moft favored nati- 
on in alliance with America, and the former enemy 
of America, then at war with the moft favored nati- 
on ; Hinder all thefs drcwivfiances it fiiould appear to be 
a moft indilpeniible obligation on America not to 
accede to any conditions propofed by Britain incom ■ 
patible with thofe ali-cady enjoyed by France — or at 
leaft if America granted all that France enjoyed, to 
^xzx\x.no more. 

Whether the queftion on neutral bottoms was 
ever difcuffed or not, is a matter not now to be exa- 
mined, but fpeaking in the fpirit of charitable for- 
bearance, the ignorance, or indifference, or imbeciii- 



•( 42 ) 

ty, of our ambafTaciDr on that occafion, furpafied 
every thing of the kmd in the annals of diplomatic 
affairs, and placed our national /«///? in the fame rank 
with that of ancient Carthage. 

Flaving freely difcuifed the leading points of your 
addrefsj there ftill remains a confiderable fhare, 
which m>ight be employed in corroborating with 
great force the general charge of deviation in the lat- 
ter part of your adminiftration from the fpirit and te- 
nor of your former profcflions, and the proper and 
true interefts of your country ; wherein your advice 
for the future is but a defence for the paft, — where 
your warnings againil party appear but as the refult 
of party fpiri: — your Icffons uponforeign politics but 
props for paft meafures — where you have difplayed 
the confrioufncfs of error — attempted to difguife 
the acrimony of perfonai refentment under the fcm- 
blance of public virtue — vainly difplaying morals 
as the fpring of Freedom^ and betraying the rafli- 
nefs of refentment, and intolerance of fuperftition, 
while exhibiting the moft fatal example of your 
difbelief or contempt of the morality and religion 
you defend, and that Freedom which they uphold ; 

but in doing all thefe you are perfectly confiftcnt 

with the views, practices, and principles, — nay even 
with the hatreds of the Britifh party ! 

The principles that lead men to virtue fhould be 
well underftood by Freemen -, if Freedom is a bleff- 
ing and Slaverv a curfe, then whatever conduces to 
the Freedom of Man is Virtue :— Is the love of 
Liberty implanted in our nature or not ? Your opi- 
nions fcem to fir.aion that cheriHied maxim of del- 
potifm, that man is naturally depraved -, the moral 
and phyfical confequencs of fuch a principle are m- 
cal ulabie, but confining the confideration to its 
effed: on freedom, we find that in all dcfpotic Go- 
vernments it is the great argument for violence, for 
fanguinary puniHiments, for grinding laws -, nor can 



( 43 ) 

it be denied, that if God could be fo iinjuft as to 
create man predominantly prone to depravity, then 
we fhould no longer condemn defpotic governments 
bccaule they would be only the neceffary refult and 
counterpoife of that vicious conftitution. 

But if the numerous virtues of which men are in 
the conftant exerciie, and which are in perfe6t unifon 
with the attributes of God, difclaim indignantly the 
accurfcd ftigma ; or that at leaft innate depravity 
is a queftion in morals ; your fupport of fuch an opin - 
ion was at leaft imprudent, and on an occafion favor- 
able to the propagation of any doftrine you might 
chufe, wears an appearance that I do not wifh to 
countenance j but the love of your country and of 
morals ought to have prevailed with you at fuch a 
time, fince you cannot be ignorant that vicious 
men are ever ready to charge their errors to the fup- 
pofed ftep-motherly be hefts of nature, rather than 
to their own wilful agency : this felfiflinefs is the 
parent of many errors, thro' it we difguife to others 
and accommodate to our own ftarting confcicnces, 
a6l3 of vice and oppreffion that religion loudly 
forbids and morals cannot tolerate nor endure. 

In attacking Thomas Paine, you a6^ed rafhly ; 
an eminent philofophicalEnglifh biftiop has acknow^ 
ledged that his writings were di6tated in fmcerity, 
you do not queftion that — yet you not only wiflied 
to difgrace him for that fmcerity, but to deprive him 
of the title to patriotifm which he had juftly obtained 
joined with you in the great conteft for Freedom; 
his do6trines I do not defend, but ere you became 
his cenfor (honefty is the beft policy,) you fliould 
have confidered how morality was affe^ed at heme ! 

Religion ftiould be kept apart from politics i — 
temporal eftabliftiments are never bettered by fpirit- 
ual influence^ they have always corrupted each other, 
and flavery has been the fate of all who have fallen 
within their united jurisdiction : ftrange that while 

G 



( 44 ) 

the whole world is divided into numberlefs relio-ions, 
and thefe each into fe£ts, the body is fubjefted to 
pimiihment for the involuntary honefly of the confci- 
ence : it is a maxim in literature that truth is never 
more fecure than when expofed to diculfion ; it would 
appear to be the rule moft confonant with reafon ta 
leg,vc mind unreftrained by the trammels of laws 
or the cgctifm and caprice of authority ; there ever 
will be fufpicion where there is myllcry, and nothing 
contributes mere to ftrengthen fcepticifm than the 
jeaioufy of believers j befides it is grofsly inconfiftent 
with the meek religion of Chrift, which prays for all, 
to ufurp, dominion over the intellefts of men : were 
we confpicuous over every other religion, which is 
not the cafe, or did our lives exhibit examples of our 
precepts, we might be in fome degree excufed ; but 
our faith would rank very low indeed if it were to be 
judged by ourzvorks! No one would difpute the right 
of a man to beftow a thoufand dollars of his own 
property, nor of another to refufe it; is opinion then 
which tyranny vainly interdifts, profcribed by you? 
Men who rail at religion, judge by the wickednefs 
pradifed in its name, or under the hypocritical 
profeffion of it, and thence to think it is a delufion 
foucredby fear, and caufing depravity; that if men 
were extricated from it, virtue would be loved for 
its own fake, they would become better, and the 
laws which are neceffary notwithftanding the influ- 
ence of religion, would then have to do only what is 
now required of them ; fuch is their way of thinking, 
and their afting under fuch imprefTions is no more 
objedionable in a rational view, than the efforts of 
the miffionaries to convert the Indians, or your own 
ph^ns for introducing the arts of civiUzation among 
tlTjetti" — the motive of each is the Jame^ and arijes from 
the iimte difprfaion to promote human happinefs, which 
we never ceafe to purfue unlefs bialTed by fome 
private prejudice or error of education. 



( 45 ) 

Equally ol>jc6lionable nre your do(5trines when 
you declare " it is not for one nanon to cxjjcdt 
" dilinterellcd favors from anothfc-r ;" this alio 
ftrikes at the rooc of morals, and is founded on the 
baleful examples of the worfi; governments, an- the 
ftippofed depravity of man ; but altho (uir conduct 
towards France too forcibly maintains tfie affirma- 
tive, I cannot admit the maxim to be any other 
than Machiavelian, difproved by various exam- 
ples fromhiftory, and in a very forcible manner by 
France, which, in befxowing (bmething more than 
what you ftrangely term nominal favors, and afking 
of us no facrifice in return, as flie jufily might have 
done, may very fairly reproach us for having given 
NO MORE THAN '' the equivalents of nominal favors /" — 
for real benefits beftowed. 

But, Sir, '^ in the duty of holding a neutral po- 
" fition" your country and France herfelf and the 
world at large agreed, that it v^as a juftly " predo- 
*^ minant motive with you to gain time to our coun- 
** try to fettle and mature its recent inltitutions, 
" and to progrefs without interruption to that de- 
"^ greeofftrength and coniiftency which is necellkry 
»' to give it, humanly fpeaking, the command of 
*^ its fortunes i" and thcfe were truly powerful 
arguments that called upon you for a rigid adhe- 
rence to the neutral principle. 

But, however willingly every man muft allow 
thefe obligations and obje<n:s to have been binding 
and wife, I apprehend I have already fliewn that 
you have not adhered to that rigid and n^-utraljuf- 
tice which you profefs — every conceOion to Britain 
in prejudice of France was a deviation from neutra- 
lity, and above all, every neglect of jullice to 
our own rights and character as a nation wnsa de- 
parture from the fj)irit and bafis of tfiT neutral 
principle — for independent of our own difgrare in 
exhibiting our imbecilitv at the moment when we 



( 4<? ) 

poSPefled the certaiw means of preferving our peace 
and dignity — we were woundiiig an ally in the 
crifis of her diftrefs, by confeiTing our dtfpair of her 
cauie in a pufilauinious indillerence for our own 
commerce and national character ; and this con- 
duct was^he more ignominous on our part, m that 
the orders of the Britilh government for the fei- 
zure of American Ihips, were illued at the fame 
time, and formed part of the fyltem that declared 
hoftiiity agamft the Republican form of government ; a 
declaration which is v^eli known to have glanced 4t 
America, and exprelied the intentions ol' Britain 
when file fliould obtain that fuccel'. wit.h the idea of 
which file was then blindly intoxicated. 

T!mt we might have preferved our lionor and 
avoided war, is within the judgment of every man 
acquainted with the nature of the Britifli trade, 
— that a non-importation of their manutadtures 
would have done this, is within the compafo of 
proof ; and knowing that it was neither the defire 
nor would it have been the interell of France that 
we fhould take a fhare in the war, fo in thefe vari- 
ous refpe6ts mufi we fnbmit to the juf^ cenfure 
which belongs to our meal"ares, and as your addrels 
is but an indirect defence thereof, it muft remain 
with time to develope motives, that can refcue 
your name from reproach. 

Freedom like this. Sir, you have not been ufed 
to ; again It a man fo long and defervedly elevated 
into the firft trult of a nation, it is painful to exer- 
cife it ; there will, however, be found many per- 
fons ready to give your words a colour or qualifica- 
tion of which they are in fome meaiure fufceptible ; 
others more attached to you than the Liberties of 
their country, will either notdifcern that departure 
from your long profefled charadfer which I allege, 
or confidering you as the confummation of politi- 
cal wifdom and moral perfection, they will haften 



( 47 ) 

to heap obloquy on him who queflions your iafalli- 
biiiry ;" the) will find m ni> coiiimcnt on your text 
anew provt of the ingratitude of RejidUcSy while my 
obfciire voice will noi be heara in the clariior, tl^o' I 
fpeak in the plainnefs of truth, that the great error 
of Republics has been, too much coniidence placed 
in the virtues and talents ol indiviouals, too much 
faith in their protelTions, and power confided fo 
long in their lu. no i!-, tliat by itsexercife the tavorite 
has been deluded into a beliet of that perft<^tion 
artfully attributed to him, and learned to look 
upon his equals as the creatures of his will. 

Polterity Vkili in vain learch for the monuments 
of wifdom in your adminiftration ; they will on en- 
quiry find nnp of the moft affli6tive of political dif- 
eafes inoculated on the conftitution, in the funding 
fyfttm — they w:ll fee the excife, a fpecies of taxa- 
tion equally odious and incongruous with freedom, 
giving birth to the lirfl military etfort of Freemen 
againlt their fellow citizens ; a tax founded in the 
breach of domeftic fecurity,and engrafting on the 
municipal trunk the feeds of civil hate.divifion, and 
corruption ; — in vain will they feek for traces of 
eftablifhments or inft-tutions calculated to fecure 
the perpetuity of freedom on the firong bafis of 
education and moral equality; — examining in order 
to difcover the true features of your charaftcr, the 
declarations of your former enemies and prefent 
friends will be minutely examined, who alTert that 
your attachment to the revolution was not the refult 
of a love of republican freedom, but of difappoint- 

ed ambition, that had you obtained promotion, 

as you expe6fed for the fervices rendered after Brad- 
dock's defeat, yourfword would have been drawn 
agamft your country : comparing thefe affertions 
with fadexiftingfaas, they will difcover that the 
great champion of American Freedom, the rival of 
1 inioipon and Cincinnatus, twenty ye.T> after the 
eftablilhment of th^^ , Republic, was poflelied of 



• ( 48 ) 

FIVE HUNDRED of the HUMAN SPECIES 
IN SLAVERY, enjoying the fruits of their 
Labour wiihout remuneration^ or even the 

CONSOLATIONS OF KEtlOIOUS INSTRUCTION that hc 

retained the barbarous uiages oi' the feudal fyftem^ 
and kept men in livery— and that he ftill atFe(5ted 
to be the friend of the Chriltian Rehgion, of civil 
Liberty, and moral equality — and to be withal a 
difinterefted, virtuous, liberal and unallunung man. 

'1 hen the foreign political incendiary, ihatfieds 
upon your praife, and the inliduous native fycophant, 
who battens on your fliame, will have lunk to their 
congenial home, and the fcrutinizingeye ofhiftory 
v^ill try you, as the ancient Egyptians were wont 
to do with their kings, and determine upon the 
merits of your life, b)' laws tiiat ipurii alike the 
meretricious evidence of incenfe and tinfel. 

I have done, Sir, what I deem a duty ; you are un- 
happily fond of flattery ; indircdl praife is to you 
the language of ^fincerity ; the ingenuity without 
the vehemence of truth, will offend : in prefent- 
ing my opinions, my earneft wi(h is to expofe the 
PERSONAL IDOLATRY into which we have 
been heealefsly running — to awaken my country- 
men to a fenfe of our true litijation — and to fliew 
them in the fallibility of the mod favored of men, 
the necelliry of thinking lor themfelves. 

Should any one blame me for the plain truths 
here declared, and make any attempt to controvert 
or explain them away, I Ihall be governed in any 
attention I may befiow thereon, by the degree 
of candor and temper they may diiplay ; if I have 
miftakcn a f;.(5t, I Ihall not be backward to acknow- 
ledge it, becaufe I have not ftated a fcntiment but 
upon convi6>ion of its re(5titude — notice of any 
other kind (hail be beneath mine. 

JASPER DVv^IGHT. 
I2th November, 1796. 



